


The Things That Shape Us

by Tattles



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Before the show, Friendship, Gen, Grief, Hale/Stilinski bonding, History, Loss, the SHERIFF KNOWS, this is my first work in this fandom so be kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-01
Updated: 2014-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-07 00:13:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1113185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tattles/pseuds/Tattles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A glimpse into the past friendship that existed been the Hale parents and Sheriff Stilinski, the events that took place and how that impacted on their children. A short angst filled fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Things That Shape Us

Sheriff Stilinski might not have the razor sharp mind of his son _but_ he had been in Beacon Hills long enough to have heard the gossip, the history linked to the town, and the Hales in particular.

When he had first arrived in Beacon Hills people had whispered warnings about the Hales to the new deputy in town. Cautioning him against associating with the family, to be suspicious of their secretiveness and to always be wary of the secluded nature of their home tucked away and hidden as it was in the forest far away from the township.

He hadn’t listen to them. John had done the opposite in fact. He’d gone out of his way to introduce himself to the family, to always say hello on the street and to include and invite them to local events.

Mr and Mrs Hale had been wary of him at first. Which was, in John’s mind, completely understandable. It have been gossiped about and considered with suspicion in their hometown would ingrain a sense of caution in the family.

Soon the people of Beacon Hills began use to seeing the Hales more often in town and John felt the unlikely sensation of belonging and home. He had found something he in Beacon Hills that he hadn’t had in over five years, a family.

Talia and Mike had been with him when he first saw Claudia. The pair of them had pushed him across the room in order to introduce himself laughing all the while. They had sat back with smug and satisfied smiles as John and Claudia had talked until closing. Talia had helped him pick the wedding ring. Mike had been his best man, standing beside him with encouraging smiles as John stood frozen with nerves. They had watched with soft smiles as John’s nerves fled at the sight of Claudia walking down the aisle and complete and utter joy replaced it.

Mike had stood silent and strong by John’s side as he anxiously paced the maternity ward as Claudia gave birth to their first child. He had grounded him and kept him sane as Claudia’s screams had echoed through the halls. They had been named Talia and Mike as Stile’s god parents.

To the residents of Beacon Hills the Stilinski and Hale were synonymous. You rarely saw one without the other.

And as time passed and the Hale family expanded with the birth of Cora and her little brother, adding to the already large family. John remained a staunch friend of the family. He and Claudia had been named Cora’s god parents, though John was certain that none of the other Hale children had god parents.

Even without the friendship between the parents Stiles had become the best of friends with Laura and Derek. Five year old Stiles was always chasing after the two older Hale children and including himself in their games. The adults would laugh at the antics this would always cause.

Of course with the close relationship between the two families secrets were bound to be revealed. And really John wasn’t stupid, willfully blind sometimes, yes, but not stupid. He had begun to notice oddities about the Hales, such as their aversion to doing anything on the full moon, and link it to gossip and the town’s legends and history. But it was Stiles who found the final piece of the puzzle.

He had come back from playing with the Hales one day with a story of how Derek and Laura had been fighting and how when it had gotten to rough Laura had growled at Derek. Stiles had excited mimicked Laura, growling like a wolf with his teeth showing his hands making clawing motions. John had been shocked at first, asking Stiles to retell the story and how Laura had looked. By the end of the retelling Stiles was scared of being in trouble for telling. John had distractedly reassured Stiles and sent him off to wash up for dinner his own mind whirling with possibilities.

A week later and after endless treks to the library John was certain that the Hale’s were werewolves. But John kept his silence, he told nobody of his discovery, not even Claudia. And then six months later Claudia was in hospital and dying slowly. Talia and Mike stayed with him, ensuring that he went home to sleep and eat, watching and caring for Stiles while John’s life slowly fell apart around him. Two months passed in an endless secession of trips home and back to the hospital, moments spent at home just as painful with all the reminders of happier times. Stiles was silent and withdrawn, only Laura and Derek could get anything resembling a smile out of him. John knew that Stiles was losing his mother and feeling the same pain but John was drowning in his own grief and fears.

Without Talia, John feared that he would have lost Stiles to social services. Without the Hales he would have lost as he was losing Claudia. The funeral was a silent and depressing affair, those around him wore masks of sorrow. John felt his grief twist up and cripple him, anger reared its ugly head, burning through him. Anger at losing Claudia, at himself for not realising sooner that she was ill and at those around him and their false sorrow.

After the funeral the world was painted in greys, everything muted and shadows of their previous selves. Talia and Mike were his rock throughout those times, looking after Stiles, ensuring that John ate and slept and didn’t drink too much. And slowly with their help John had pulled through, managing to come to terms with his now colourless world. Gradually joy crept back into John’s life in the form of his son, Stiles.

Stiles was growing in leaps and bounds, with endless energy, he would flit about the house talking nonstop. And so Stiles gradually bought the house back to life. A light in an otherwise dark world. Father and son making themselves into a new family, creating something different from what they had but never forgetting.

Mike and Talia were still strong figures in their lives. Mike would pick Stiles up from school with the rest of the Hales and drop him home in time for dinner or John would pick him up from the Hale place and they would both stay for dinner amidst the chaos of generations of Hales the two Stilinski men would sit and bask in the sense of family and belonging the Hales had created.

And one day, years after the loss of Claudia, John and Stiles had lost the rest of their make shift family in a blazing inferno. The smoke had been the first that anyone knew of anything wrong. A think black column of smoke hovering over the forest. By the time that the fire fighters and sheriff’s department had reached the Hale property the heat was intense, they couldn’t get within 100 feet of the house. They could hear the screams of those trapped inside. John had tried to run into the house. It had taken three other deputies to hold him down, he had sagged in their arms sobbing as the family he loved burnt.

By the time the fire department had the fire out the Hales were only dead, burnt alive. Only Peter Hale was alive, only barely and the paramedics didn’t have much hope for him. Laura and Derek had been in school but had been taken to the station while the fire fighters did their job. Cora was unaccounted for, Cora’s school said she hadn’t turned up but as far as the sheriff could tell there wasn’t a body to match.  

John had sat through all of this in the back of the paddy wagon with a shock blanket around him. John felt like a robot, going through the motion but his brain had shut down. The sheriff told him to go home after a day of simply existing. Derek and Laura were staying with him for the time being and when he got home they were curled up on the couch, Stiles holding onto them.

There were whispers in town, arson, they said. Some of the towns folk thought that the Hales had been asking for it but those who voiced those feelings were soon quieted. The fire had officially been ruled as arson but there was no evidence at the scene to be found, nothing to implicate anyone, almost like it was done by a professional.

For John it had twisted and warped him, poisoning his thinking and darkening his heart. Heartache mixed with guilt, it ate at John at all hours of the day. He took to the bottle again, drinking away the pain. Derek and Laura were withdrawn and starting to act out in school. And then they were gone, they had left a brief note.

The only two left standing in Beacon Hills of the once great Hale-Stilinski clan were John and Stiles. Alone the two men lived, with only themselves and their grief overwhelming.

Maybe in the future a Hale will return to Beacon Hills and werewolves will roam the forests again. Perhaps Stiles will make new friendships and move forward from the loss of the Hales. And maybe a new family will be created.

 


End file.
